Sufjan Stevens: "Free Man In Paris"

Last month, the track that Sufjan Stevens did of "Free Man In Paris" for A Tribute To Joni Mitchell leaked.

DOWNLOAD: Sufjan Stevens - "Free Man In Paris" [Joni Mitchell Cover] (MP3)

Apparently, there was a lot of talk about this track. Mostly because it differs a lot from the original. Personally, I really love what Sufjan did with it. He made it his own and came up with a really creative and interesting cover.

Today, the website for the album went up, providing a short stream of each song, as well as explanations from each artist they picked to appear on the tribute.

I really love reading these little essays that Sufjan writes. He's an eloquent writer, and always meditates on things a little longer than the average person probably does. In regards to "Free Man In Paris," Sufjan starts:

The song is built around one long speech tag, attributed to [David] Geffen, laid out verbatim, extracted, perhaps, from some offhand remark he let slip in passing: a complaint about the headaches of the music industry. If taken at his word, Geffen comes off as wary of the work and responsibilities of the entertainment business, pining for a romantic vacation in Paris.

He goes on to describe how he would like to think that he doesn't have much in common with Geffen, except that maybe he's got a point. Everyone would love to escape to Paris right?

Which led him to this:

In this light, my approach became less an exercise in empathy, and more an experiment of the imagination. What would it sound like if David Geffen had, in fact, left the humdrum of the music industry for a fantasy weekend getaway to Paris? I decided to conjure up a party song, with strings and trumpets and trombones and vibraphones marching in a parade down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, all lit up with fireworks. Wouldn’t we all like to be there right now, dancing around bare-foot, tipping a glass of Champagne?

Read the whole essay here.

[Pic credit: Denny Renshaw]